Robinson Attributes Power of O'Neill's Drama to Influence From Ireland--Foolish To Censor "Juno" For Immorality

"All the success and merit of the present day American theatre is due strangely enough to the influence of the Irish stage," declared Lennox Robinson, director of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in an interview last night. Mr. Robinson is making a tour of the United States with the entire company of the Abbey Theatre, and is now engaged for two weeks in Boston, giving a large repertoire of pieces including the works of Synge, Yeats, and Lady Gregory.

"The Irish theatre was the first to really treat pay-deserving attention to themes of local peculiarity. Twenty years ago the Irish dramatists introduced realism by a consideration of actual conditions in Ireland. America followed and today, the greatest America followed and today, the greatest American dramatist, O'Neill, still puts his plays in familiar setting and imbues them with a wealth of native material.

"There have been foolish threats and disturbances when it was announced that we were going to give O'Casey's "Juno and the Paycock," and Synge's "Playboy of the Western World." Just because they depict life realistically and do not hesitate to show the sordid, several self-constituted censors have proposed that we should omit the performances from our repertoire. On the grounds of morality they object to "Juno" because it pictures living conditions among the poor, and in it no Irish girl has an illegitimate child, and of course, no Irish girl would have an illegitimate child. Objections to the "Playboy" are made because of several fanciful scenes of genuine dramatic value.

"The disturbance is a healthy sign. It indicates interest. American audiences as a rule are much more apathetic than the Irish. Censorship in Ireland runs more in a political line than a moral one. Riots on such occasions as the exhibition of a national flag on a stage are not infrequent, and although they interrupt performances, they show that the audience is at least awake.

"Our theatre has a distinct advantage over the American stage in that the government grants it annually a considerable subsidy. The quality of the audiences is also better in Ireland.